James Hamilton Thread On Dj History Forum

[Ian Dewhirst]

There's an interesting thread over on the DJ History forum about James Hamilton, perhaps best known for his Dance Music column in Record Mirror magazine in the 70's and 80's. He was a major Soul Music enthusiast right through the 1960's but is better known for his excellent and very accurate reviews of just about every dance music release from circa '75 to '90.

However, when he passed away his records got auctioned-off and there was a huge box of U.S. Gospel 45's that no one seemed to want so they were picked up for a song. Nothing ever happened with 'em and several years later an enthusiast enquired about them and picked up the whole lot - untouched since the auction. He's posted a load of scans of the original 45's with James's comments wriiten on the sleeves and, to me, it's like a priceless piece of history. Since there's just been a Gospel thread on S.S. I thought this may be of interest to Soul Source so I've taken the liberty of mentioning it. His descriptions are brilliant - his review of a Rhonda Davis Gospel release is indicative of his ability to spot talent but I'm not a Gospel freak and most of the stuff is too early for me, but I'm sure there'll be a few people that may be interested, so here's the link:-

https://www.djhistory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57141

I actually knew James in the 80's but I knew he was seriously collecting throughout the 60's and I'd often quiz him about his influences and he was just a total Soul enthusiast with unbelievable knowledge. Now I've seen these scans of the Gospel 45's with his reviews written on the sleeves it makes me wonder what else he had and who got it!

Ian D

[Anoraks Corner]

However, when he passed away his records got auctioned-off

I went to the auction...records were sorted into various box loads, which you could flick through, but had to bid on the box rather than separate items.

The one thing I do recall was that there were plenty of US discs which had their labels scratched...not the credits but scratches running in lines from the middle to the edge almost like hands on a clock! Apparently this was done to stop them slipping on old turntables!

[arnie j]

as someone who just loves looking at records and labels i really enjoyed that,interesting stuff,thanks for posting

jason

[Sutty]

A guy I was acquanted with that used to own record shop in Brighton bought those Gospel 45's from the James Hamilton auction, I remember seeing the box with them in, nobody was interested in them so he got them dirt cheap. Unfortunately he was so paranoid about not getting top dollar for every record he ever sold that he never even let anyone look through them, he kept them in the back of his shop. After he sold the business he presumably let them go as a job lot to make a bit on top, as by then he'd probably realised he isn't actually a very good businessman at all and gave up trying to run a record shop... and he is a complete tw*t, and I have told him that and more to his face, although my disagreement wasn't over these particular records and his mindless paranioa, it was some other records and his mindless paranoia and conning me into pricing up a collection for him then trying to rip me off afterwards, but you live and learn! lol

that mighty clouds of joy 'pray for me' pictured is a hell of a good record!

EDIT - I see the guy posting the records got them off the man in question, at least they've gone to a good home!

DOUBLE EDIT - it's MIKE who has the records, they have gone to a good home.

cheers Sutty

Edited September 12, 2010 by Sutty

[Sean Hampsey]

I met James in 1979 - at the height of the DISCO boom - on a market stall I used to frequent in Bawtry, south of Doncaster.

The guy running the record stall was called Chris (from Leeds, as I recall - he later opened up a shop in Leeds, but that's another 'amazing' story).

I was going through the boxes, when this tall, suited, distinguished looking gentleman peers over my shoulder and started making comments about the stuff I was picking out.... 'ah, that's a good one'... 'mmm... that brings back a few memory's' etc...

I thought he must have been having me on - he didn't look like anything like a Soulboy so I struck up a conversation to see if he was for real.

Could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me who he was. We talked for over an hour. He told me about the time he saw the Spellbinders live in New York and how great they were, all about when he had dinner with Van McCoy and so on... a mine of detailed information... all bloody mindblowing stuff.

As a Soul DJ I always considered his column essential reading - even though I could never get fully to grips with BPM's and all that mullarky - his descriptions were always superbly crafted.

Sadly, he passed away in 1996, but I'm glad to have had that one 'chance' meeting with him.

Sean

[Jerry Hipkiss]

As a Soul DJ I always considered his column essential reading - even though I could never get fully to grips with BPM's and all that mullarky - his descriptions were always superbly crafted.

Sadly, he passed away in 1996, but I'm glad to have had that one 'chance' meeting with him.

Sean

Most of my 80's dance 12's have BPMs written on the sleeves - it became a ritual to sit at home with that weeks Record Mirror copying the BPMs that JH had done, checking what new imports I might need (he was well ahead of the game) and then ringing Kev Edwards and Barry May oop north.to spend far too much money...

Met James several times in the late 80's at the DMC Mixing Championships at the Albert Hall, real gentleman, in fact one year when we'd gone up to London by train and gone to all the after parties we found ourselves without transport back to Paddington at 4am, James insisted on giving us a lift, going via the City to drop his article off on the way!

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

I met James originally in the first half of the 1970s, through our mutual friend Brian Peters who had been the DJ at the Scene after Guy Stevens (who taught Brian to DJ) and before James (who Brian in turn taught to DJ)

He used to live in a one or two roomed flat in Knightsbridge, just around the back from Harvey Nichols. I'd been in a few houses that held big collections, but I'd never seen so many square feet of floor space taken up by so many teetering piles of mostly US 45s and albums - they were, quite literally, everywhere that they could be accommodated.

Amazingly, James always seemed to be able to lay hands on any single that you might ask him if he had - a feat I have seldom been able to accomplish myself, particularly in recent decades. I vividly remember asking him if he'd heard Skip Mahoaney and the Casuals' "Your Funny Moods" - then a recent release that hadn't come through to the London import emporiums - and him disappearing into a far corner of his living area to produce two copies in a matter of seconds, from two piles of singles that didn't look like it had been looked through in years...

I only saw him intermittently in the 70s - although I regularly attended his 'Cruising' nights at the Lord Nelson pub in Holloway Road (James used to help the late Roger Scott with the programming of his "Cruising" show on Capital Radio) - and early 80s but I renewed a regular acquaintance with James when I started to work in club promotion in the late 80s/early 90s, and would regularly find myself doing the rounds of the same stores as him, me plugging my latest wares to shop owners and DJs and James standing by the decks with his stopwatch timing out the beats per minute. He lived in Harlesden by that time, in a house with a specially constructed 14 inch letterbox to accommodate the hundreds of 12 inch promos that he was receiving every day by that time - including loads from me...

As Mr. Flynn has remarked, many of James' 45s had the labels scored with a Stanley blade - he used to do this so that he could stack several imports together for play on his Dansette without them slipping. James also used to write reviews on the sleeves of his 45s - as has also been noted - often with the not altogether satisfying side effect of the writing going through to the vinyl itself, if he used a particularly sharp biro on any given day. His relatively cavalier treatment of his records would scare some of today's collectors to death, but he was actually enjoying the music that came from them rather than looking at them as pieces of a pension that, sadly, he would never live to enjoy...

[John Benson]

Now I've seen these scans of the Gospel 45's with his reviews written on the sleeves it makes me wonder what else he had and who got it!

Ian D

Not one of the gospel 45s Ian, but I think this is the sort of thing you are referring to:

Any idea what the record is he reviewed?

I'll post up the actual 45 later after you've had chance to have a guess or two!

[Jerry Hipkiss]

He lived in Harlesden by that time, in a house with a specially constructed 14 inch letterbox to accommodate the hundreds of 12 inch promos that he was receiving every day by that time - including loads from me...

Brilliant - I remember hearing that tale!

[Ian Dewhirst]

Not one of the gospel 45s Ian, but I think this is the sort of thing you are referring to:

Any idea what the record is he reviewed?

I'll post up the actual 45 later after you've had chance to have a guess or two!

Mmm. I dunno. Fontella Bass or Shirley Brown maybe?

Ian D

[John Benson]

Not quite those two Ian

Actually it was this lady:

Pity he knocked out the centre...

Geraldine Hunt - never never leave me -